Europe and the United States clash on Iran and Venezuela – 13/05/2019

European and American interests continue to diverge. Two current major crises show that Europeans do not follow the administration of Donald Trump and, impossible at other times, they even work to prevent Washington's actions from taking effect.

The main row of recent months is due to Iran While the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal a year ago and the pressure on Tehran is increasing, even with military movements, Europeans respect the agreement and they are trying to put in place a mechanism so that their companies can continue to trade with Iran without suffering US sanctions.

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The divergence, if not the discomfort, between American and European diplomacy increased when US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday he has been invited to a meeting of chancellors The Europeans in Brussels and the "Chancellor" of the bloc, Federica Mogherini, came to the meeting stating that the agenda was very busy. "Let's see if we find a little time to meet him," he said.

European countries have asked US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "to avoid escalation" with Iran.

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The German, French and British foreign ministers had separate talks on Monday with Pompeo in Brussels.

Pompeo has arrived in Brussels to put pressure on the Europeans so that they immediately follow the footsteps of the United States and get out of the Iranian nuclear deal and, most importantly, that they do not think about anything that can ease the pressure on Iran. No European country, in particular none of the actors involved in the management of the agreement with Tehran (Germany, France and the United Kingdom) has changed their minds.

Last week, Iran asked the Europeans that this mechanism take effect within a maximum of two months in order to continue selling oil to Europe and to keep its banks connected to the European financial system despite US sanctions.

As the EU tries to save the nuclear deal with Tehran, the United States accuses Iran of preparing "Imminent attacks" against American interests in the Middle East and announced the dispatch of a ship loaded with amphibious vehicles and a battery of Patriot missiles to be added to the B-52 bombers that Washington has in the region and to an aircraft carrier.

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No one in Europe is following in Washington's footsteps, nor is his traditional British ally. Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt said on his arrival in Brussels that he was "very concerned about the risk that the escalation of tension would produce a conflict by accident". The Frenchman Jean-Yves Le Drian was more direct and declared that "the American position of increasing pressure and sanctions does not suit us". And Germany's Heiko Maas said "no one wants a nuclear-armed Iran" and that's why "in Europe we consider this agreement necessary".

The British Hunt warned against the risk of nuclear proliferation: "We must ensure that Iran does not return to the path of nuclearization, because if Iran becomes a nuclear power, its neighbors will want to probably become nuclear powers ".

Venezuela

The other row arises Venezuela. Washington does not see any possible dialogue and is betting on the pressure of the army to drop Nicolás Maduro. Europe has launched a contact group that will send a mission this week to Caracas with representatives of several European countries.

The contact group, announced almost two months ago, has not yielded results for the moment, but sources of European diplomacy have explained this morning to "Clarín" that a party responsibility for the current blockade was attributable to Juan Guaidó's movements.

Europeans strongly reject any foreign military intervention, but there is not so much unanimity as to the opportunity to apply more sanctions. London is asking for more of the hard hand that practice would take with more sanctions against the top leaders of the regime. Mogherini and a group of countries led by Spain believe that there is still time to devote to a negotiated exit.

Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell, who said last week that Washington behaved "like a cowboy" in the Venezuelan crisis, on Monday criticized the fact that the United States "continually raise the possibility of". a military intervention ".

Brussels, special